Help Your Kids Make Smart Financial Decisions Now and Later

We want them to say “please” and “thank you.” We want them to make their beds. We want them to stop being so rough with their younger sibling. We just want them to learn to obey.

As parents, we work hard to raise our children well. It is an occasionally frustrating, but very fulfilling responsibility. And there are many areas in which to teach and train our kids, including money. From a young age, kids can be taught basic concepts of money. Knowing how often poor financial decisions are made by adults, it seems that the earlier we start instilling good financial practices into our kids’ hearts and minds, the better. As a dad of young kids, this is an area into which I have been putting some parental energy. I encourage you to consider it as well.

2 Signs a Vision is Gaining Momentum

Vision drips. It takes time for an organizational vision to seize the hearts and minds of team members, much less the organization’s constituents. A leader can get up on stage and give a tremendous presentation on a new organizational vision, but by the time everyone goes home later that day, most have forgotten it. Life has moved their focus on to other things. This is normal.

Avoiding Financial Disaster Starts Today

Over time, it becomes easy to get lulled into thinking your financial picture is fine and completely normal. You grow accustomed to the way things are and rarely question if there is a better way. But subtly, your financial situation is eroding. And if not addressed, you will come face-to-face with a financial disaster.

With Envision the Life, Michael Dean has produced an excellent introduction to spiritual formation that is both gospel-centered and firmly grounded in the Scriptures. Dean provides a reproducible blueprint that individual churches can employ in their efforts to produce disciples who reproduce disciples. Envision the Life can be used as a one-on-one discipleship curriculum, a small group Bible study, or as a guide for an entire church’s disciple efforts.

4 Reasons to Value an Organizational Vision

John Kotter wrote in his book, Leading Change, “Vision refers to a picture of the future with some implicit or explicit commentary on why people should strive to create that future.” Where is your organization going? Most organizations cannot answer this question. They lack a vision. And so they remain stuck in the status quo.

The church of Jesus Christ badly needs to find a way to balance the noble pursuits of doctrinal clarity and loving unity. In Brick Walls and Picket Fences, Miller proposes a unique way in which we can pursue theological depth and biblical discernment while also valuing unity.

Christians need not choose between speaking the truth and living in love. We can do both. It will never be easy, but there is a path to follow. This book will help Christians and churches achieve a much needed balance.

Recommended Books from Rainer Publishing

Favorite Quotes

When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen. Ernest Hemingway

I was never the smartest guy in the room. From the first person I hired, I was never the smartest guy in the room. And that’s a big deal. And if you’re going to be a leader – if you’re a leader and you’re the smartest guy in the world – in the room, you’ve got real problems. Jack Welch

If you are a leader, you will have criticisms. If you don't have criticisms, you're probably not leading. Thom Rainer

If everything is important, then nothing is. Patrick Lencioni

No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it. Andrew Carnegie

About Me

I have the honor of serving as the Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and am a cofounder of Rainer Publishing. I have written two books, Raising Dad and Simple Life, and live with my wife, Sarah, and two sons in Wake Forest, NC.